An Uncle's Duty
by Foxbear
Summary: Injured and forced to remain behind, Ironhide agrees to watch out for Sarah and Annabelle while Major Lennox is out on an extended mission. Can the best soldier in the Autobot army handle one little girl?
1. Injury

Uncle 1

A Transformers Movieverse Fanfic

The village had no name, the tall mountains it huddled between had too many to count. Not that Crusher really cared about such things as human nomenclature, he simply waited. The hulking, rust orange Decpticon, had hidden there for nearly a month, quite content to remain as ignorant of the fleshlings' culture as he was of any of the dozens of worlds he had helped destroy. Water had rusted his armor; boredom had eaten away at his circuits. Someone had noticed the unusually large amount of new shavings washing up downstream of the old saw mill. A child exploring the abandoned structure had asked why there were now two rusting machines inside when local legend only told of one. Worried whispers spread. A call was made. Now a ring of heavily armed soldiers slipped silently through the dense conifer forest while the sun shone brightly through its branches.

Perhaps this time combat could be avoided, but if it couldn't the attack was to be swift and powerful. The enemy was known to be strong, NEST would have to be stronger. Due east of the mill a black pickup rolled easily down an old logging road. Major Lennox sat upright in the driver seat; eyes flicking ceaselessly over the terrain ahead, hands lightly checking his weapon. Due west of the mill a logging truck approached across an open field. Chief Master Sergeant Epps leaned forward eagerly in the cab, one finger resting lightly on his earpiece. Every five minutes a series of clicks came in, soldiers reporting their readiness. Every second that passed without contact meant a greater chance they could haul in the con and get home without any loss of life. The final signals came in. All the soldiers were within sight of the target.

The logging truck pulled up to the mill came to a stop beside the weathered remains of several more of its kind. On the other side of the mill the pickup truck rolled to a halt. The two vehicles paused for a moment while their occupants hopped out. Then they moved. Metal shifted, gears whirred and where two trucks had sat now towered two giant robots. Optimus Prime strode forward a few steps and addressed the occupant of the old mill,

"Crusher! We are aware you are in there. We are also aware that you have lived peacefully among these humans since the defeat of Megatron. If you are willing to surrender, you will be allowed to do so." The silence of the high mountains rang around the Autobots and their allies when Optimus had finished speaking. For a moment nothing happened, and then slowly the roof of the old mill collapsed. Crusher unfolded from the dusty building and stood glaring at the Prime.

"Surrender? To you?" he demanded in a raspy voice full of venom. Optimus inclined his head.

"If that prospect is unattractive you may also surrender to our allies," the Prime indicated the human officer standing alertly beside Ironhide.

Crusher never took his optics off the Autobot leader as he reviewed the situation. Never the brightest of the Decpticons the thoughts rolled sluggishly through his head. For a moment the cool, clear air of the high mountains sang through his memory. Yes it had been lonely, and boring, but there were moments; when the mill had creaked and groaned at night reminding him of Cybertron, when the small organics had run through cheeping and beeping like minicons, one could grow to like this planet. But his eyes focused on the hated Autobot leader and the millennia of combat rushed to the surface. His servos gripped the machine he had copied for his alt mode.

"I…Will…Never…Surrender…To…A…Prime!" Crusher roared. As expected he lunged at Optimus. Not quite as expected he threw the old saw mill over his shoulder. Optimus side stepped and caught the charging con with a swift palm blow to its lagging shoulder while kicking out at its legs. Crusher's own momentum carried him past the Autobot and into the ground. He was up again in a moment, but a moment was all Optimus needed to activate his energon sword. Crusher charged again, roaring an old Decpticon battle cry. The Prime swung down and in one mighty blow sliced through the con's spark chamber. The rusted, battle scarred, Decpticon fell to his knees and the red light faded from his optics. "I, it was not so bad here…" he murmured as he collapsed on the ground.

Optimus checked quickly on Sergeant Epps. The human was busy radioing the results of the battle to the rest of the ground force. All being well there, he turned his attention to the other side of the now destroyed mill. Major Lennox appeared to be fine, but Ironhide… Prime strode easily across the stream that had once driven the mill. The old Autobot warrior was cradling his arm carefully against his chestplates while Lennox looked up at him with a mixture of gratitude and exasperation.

"…and for the last time. I'm fine! Ratchet will fix me up as soon as we get back to base," the old bot was explaining to the Major. As if to prove his point, the warrior transformed back into his alt mode. There was the usual whirring and clicking, then a grinding scrape that made Lennox's stomach lurch. Ironhide had made it fully into truck mode but something was definitely wrong.

"Ironhide!" Optimus said as he arrived, "Stay where you are. I'll summon Ratchet."The Autobot leader knelt worriedly over his friend. "What happened?"

"Ah, just got hit by a bit of debris is all." Ironhide replied. Major Lennox let out a short bark of laughter and interrupted.

"He means he jumped in between me and a flying saw mill. He shot it to pieces then blocked the shrapnel with his own body. I'd be a Major stain on the grass right now if he hadn't." The old Autobot just grunted at that and continued.

"Anyway, there's no need to call Ratchet out here. I can still drive. It's just that old secondary transforming cog that's been giving me trouble since Praxis. It finally gave." The Prime nodded slowly.

"If you are sure of that, then you might as well head back to the transport plane. Major Lennox, if you would accompany him and give our report I will finish the cleanup here." Lennox nodded and climbed up into Ironhide's interior. He knew Optimus well enough to read the subtext of what was said. Make sure the older bot made it safely back to the plane. The human definitely didn't like the noises coming from Ironhide's right side, but decided not to say anything. The warrior was far more experienced that the human would ever be and most likely knew his own limits.


	2. Request

An Uncle's Duty 2

Request

A Transformers Movieverse Fanfic

"The problem with you Ironhide, is that you don't know your own limits," growled Ratchet, as the yellow medibot bent over the black pickup. The warrior only grunted in reply. Lennox approached carrying a tablet computer under his arm. The Major looked up at his friend, suspended on a lift, with the panels of one side open to the air. He winced and felt a twinge of sympathy pain shoot up his arm. Ratchet carefully closed the open panels and lowered Ironhide to the floor. The Autobot rolled up to the human and Lennox waited patiently for him to transform. The seconds stretched out until Ironhide growled impatiently,

"Well, what's the news?"

Lennox started and glanced down at his screen.

"Nothing too exciting; a few faint energon readings in South America, mysterious sightings in Antarctica, the usual. We are filling out the duty rosters for the scout teams and I wanted to see which you were interested in."

Ironhide popped open his driver side door and exclaimed eagerly,

"Plug 'er in and I'll look over it."

Lennox wondered why his friend hadn't transformed, but tried to hand over the duty roster. Ratchet, however, reached out and knocked away the tablet gently.

"Not a chance! Not only has your left secondary transformation cog ruptured, forcing a transformation like you did damaged a host of subsystems. I have done what I could to repair the subsystems but there is no way to repair that cog!"

"So you have to replace it?" Lennox asked curiously. The concept of Cybertronian medicine intrigued him, but more often than not left him befuddled. Silence greeted his question. Ironhide shifted a little and set off on another tack.

"I may not be able to transform but Major Lennox will still need a command vehicle. I can help coordinate and even without my cannons I'd like to see the con who wasn't afraid of me!"

Lennox frowned, Ironhide's injuries must have been worse than he thought. Ratchet had launched into a diatribe on exactly why there was no way the warrior was going into battle with Ironhide arguing every point. Lennox sighed and stepped firmly between them.

"Ironhide! Ratchet!" The Autobots immediately fell silent and turned their attention to the human. "Ironhide, Ratchet is your medical officer. If he says you are unfit for duty, you stay here, no argument."

The black pickup somehow managed to shrug and grunt, Lennox continued.

"Beside, you've been on active duty for too long. Nearly every other Autobot on the planet has taken leave. You are due for some time off, and until Ratchet can replace your cog I want you taking it." An awkward silence fell on the two Autobots. Lennox glanced between them, but Ironhide only said,

"Yes Major Lennox," and drove off toward the Autobot's living area.

Lennox turned to Ratchet and demanded,

"What was that all about? I've never seen you come down on Ironhide, on anyone that hard before." The Autobot medic seemed to slump, he rubbed the ridge between his optics before answering.

"Even back on Cybertron, replacing a transformation cog is a tricky procedure. I could do it with the resources here; but," the Autobot medic trailed off, but a leaden feeling had settled in Lennox's stomach.

"We don't have any extra transformation cogs lying around, do we?" Lennox asked. Ratchet shook his head slowly.

"I used the last one to repair a warrior long before we even knew of you planet." The full implication of what Ratchet was saying hit the human.

"So Ironhide is stuck in pickup mode permanently?"

"Until either we can contact a group with an extra cog off world or your infrastructure can rise to the point where you can produce one, yes he's stuck."

"That could take," Lennox said.

"Years, decades perhaps," Ratchet replied.

N.E.S.T. was preparing to roll out. Chief Master Sergeant Epps was shouting questions and orders across the tarmac, seeing to the endless minutia that always cropped up before a deployment. Soldiers ran this way and that, controlled chaos reigned. Near the open rear of a C-130 Hercules a red and blue semi conferred with a black pickup. Their communication flowed back and forth across channels so fast that no human could have kept up with it, but the content was the same as any pre-battle meeting that had occurred on the planet; logistics, the abilities and health of the team, the probable strength of the enemies. They ended their discussion as Major Lennox strode up in full battle gear. He nodded curtly at Optimus and said,

"We're ready to roll when you are."

The Autobot responded by turning over his engine and rolling up into the plane, leaving the two friends alone on the tarmac for a moment. Lennox placed one hand on the truck's hood and Ironhide steeled himself to accept some well meaning platitude from the human about being left behind. To the warriors surprise, however the human looked at him with worry and queried,

"Ironhide, can I ask a favor of you?"

"Of course Major, anything."

Lennox took a deep breath and said,

"It's my wife. She's under a lot of stress right now; moving to the new housing, Annabelle has been colicky recently, and I haven't been able to be there for her. Now this mission will probably keep us away for a month or more. Since you're going to be here I was wondering if you could check in on her. Maybe take them for a drive."

Ironhide shifted uncomfortably. He had been afraid that the joint commanders would try to find busy work for him to do to keep his mind off being left at base, but Lennox seemed sincere. The Autobot had been on this planet long enough to know that the males did not causally delegate the care of their mates and offspring.

"I would be honored," he replied gravely.

Lennox's face brightened and he smacked his hand down on Ironhide's hood in gratitude.

"Thanks friend. See you once we smoke out these cons." The human turned and trotted up the ramp into the plane. Soon the engines roared to life and the plane took off. The powerful looking pickup mulled over the male Lennox's request as he rolled back to the base. Their friendship had been forged in the heat of battle and reinforced time and again as the human had proved his devotion and trustworthiness. Ironhide had been there when the man had greeted his child for the first time, had seen his pure joy.

The bot rolled that memory over in his mind. After greeting his wife Lennox had carried little Annabelle over to the waiting pickup and given some hurried introductions. Enough information had slipped out to the military families that keeping the Autobots an absolute secret from them had been impossible. Sarah Lennox had smiled a bit nervously and said,

"Hello Ironhide."

Annabelle had been much more forward, shrieking and giggling at her reflection in the trucks windows. William Lennox had leaned over so she could touch the Autobot crooning,

"Yes baby girl, this is Daddy's new friend Ironhide. He brought Daddy home safe from far away."

Ironhide had been amused at the change in the human's demeanor. The hardcore, sometimes wild warrior of the Mission City battle had seemingly been replaced by a babbling idiot. The Autobot had watched how carefully the man had held the infant, how his every attention had been fixed on her or her mother. Suddenly the little one had leaned over and grabbed the corner of a side view mirror in her mouth. Mrs. Lennox and gasped and tried to apologize. Mr. Lennox had roared with laughter. Ironhide had assured Sarah that no harm was done and joined William in laughing at the little protoform's antics. Despite being many times stronger than her it had taken the combined efforts of both humans to pry her off of the Autobot. She had fussed a little when the adults had finally taken her inside. Ironhide had given Major Lennox a few rides home since then. Each time the females had come out to greet him.

He wasn't quite sure what exactly Major Lennox expected him to do. He certainly didn't mind the company of Sarah Lennox or their little one, but he knew so little of their customs. How did one comfort a human mother? Especially one who had a husband going off to battle nearly daily. Ironhide thought of his friends off battling without him, out where he could not do anything to protect them, and felt a surge of sympathy for Mrs. Lennox who had to deal with it every day. Perhaps he should consult one of his human colleges here on the base, but who?


	3. Advice

An Uncle's Duty 3

Advice

Sort of a Transformers Movieverse Fanfic

Ironhide rolled into the main base hanger, his CPU busily sorting through the roster of human N.E.S.T. soldiers. Few had children of their own as they tended to be younger and not as far into their breeding cycle. But many had siblings with children. One in particular had several siblings and close to two dozen nephews and nieces. Sergeant Roger "Tommygun" Thompson 23 years old, was in charge of the motor pool for the N.E.S.T. base. Not only could he fix any Earth rig with wheels, it was said that in the past few years he had learned enough about Cybertronian biology to perform open spark operations. It was not for his medical skills however that Ironhide decided he was the best man to gather the information from. In the days after his injury Tommygun had been the primary mechanic/medic assisting Ratchet. Ironhide had grown to like the blunt honest nature of the human.

Tommygun was contorted around the bottom of a Huey when Ironhide found him. Being smaller than most human males he was able to perform many tasks more efficiently in tight spaces. Two or three other humans were briskly carrying out repairs on the old bird. Music blasted from an ancient boom box and the harsh sound of welding came from elsewhere in the hanger. The jet black Autobot rolled up next to the helicopter and waited patiently for the sergeant to come out. With a final grunt the human wriggled out from under the machine holding a wrench in one grease covered hand. He hollered over at private to bring him another roll of safety wire and stood up. He turned and saluted Ironhide and let out a crisp,

"Sir!"

The Autobot said, "At ease Sergeant, I'd like a word with you."

"Sir, yes, Sir!" the human turned to his crew and gave them a quick, 'carry on', before placing the wrench in a tool box, wiping off his hands, and walking over to Ironhide. The driver side door popped open on the truck and Tommygun jumped in. Ironhide pulled out toward the door of the hanger. The mechanic glanced down at the Autobot symbol on the steering wheel and asked with a hint of worry in his voice,

"Sir, are ya'll right? Nothing's hurting you is it?" Ironhide let out a harrumph at the question and assured Tommygun that he was just fine.

"No Sergeant, I wanted to ask you advice on a," Ironhide paused unsure how to phrase it, "personal matter. If you don't mind."

Tommygun relaxed and leaned back in the seat, stretching out his legs in the ample cab.

"Well sure. Just fire away and I'll do my best to steer ya' right," he replied.

"A friend has requested that I 'look out' for his family while he is deployed." The Autobot hesitated again. "I'd be glad to do anything for him and his, but I've got no idea where to start. You seem to have a lot of experience assisting other soldiers' mates and offspring so I figure I'd ask you for ideas."

Tommygun nodded slowly and said,

"Well I do try to help out as best I can. Nothin' special bout that tho. Ya' see we human types have a hard time making it to maturity. It takes us the better part of a fifth of our life span just to reach full growth. Without our parents we'd never make it. And then along comes the Army and takes away half of that team for months at a time. It can be real rough on a kid and the parent left behind." The mechanic shifted on the seat as they rolled out onto the highway.

"So we sorta' have this code, see? Those of us left behind try to take care of the families back home. I'm nothin' special that way. I just do what I can for my brothers' families."

Ironhide thought about the praises he'd heard heaped on the man for the time he spent tending to his nieces and nephews, but decided to remain silent. Thompson was the kind of soldier who felt awkward with personal praise. Tommygun continued.

"Well, the most important thing is just to be there for 'em. Just show up, make sure it's a convenient time now, and say 'Hi'. Let 'em know you're thinking bout 'em, and thinking bout their guy or gal deployed."

"I see," Ironhide rumbled, "go on."

"Now, if ya' want specifics I'm gonna have to know how old the kid's are…"

Ironhide pulled up in front of a neat brick house. The Lennox's off base housing was tucked back in a forested are not too far from the base. There was one other identical house in sight, but cottonwood and maple trees shielded them from the other houses marching down the street. Ironhide saw several brightly colored playthings scattered around the other yard. He hesitated in the driveway, unsure of what the social protocol was in a situation like this. However in a few minutes a small brown face peeked out from the other house's front window. Its front door opened and an organic male come running out. Ironhide easily identified the boy as Chief Master Sergeant Epps's youngest offspring and only son, Fred, from the many pictures Epps had proudly shown around the base. The youngster ran fearlessly up to the Autobot and stood in front of his grill.

"Hey! You Ironhide?" the boy demanded.

"I am," responded the bot.

"Well you better hush-hush, cuz Annie's taking a nap, an' Momma says if we wakes her up we're gonna be in big trouble," the small boy leaned closer and whispered loudly. "An' you don' wanna see Momma mad." Ironhide shut off his engine obediently.

"Do you know where Mrs. Lenox is?" Ironhide asked as quietly as he could. The little boy cocked his head to one side and said in confusion,

"Who?"

"Mrs. Lennox, Major Lennox's mate." The boy only shook his head. Ironhide thought for a second and the said,

"Annie's mother." The boy's face brightened immediately.

"Oh! You mean Aunty Sarah! Yes I know where she is." The boy beamed proudly up at the bot.

"Well. Tell me," said Ironhide feeling a bit bewildered by this conversation.

"She's in the house."

"Which house?"

The boy pointed towards the one he had come out of. Ironhide started his engine and rolled over to the other driveway with the boy trotting along beside him.

"What you doing here? Did you smash any cons today? How much do you weigh? Is Optimus bigger'n you? How fast can you go?" Fred seemed to have forgotten his own admonition to be quiet and was letting out a loud stream of chatter. As soon as Ironhide pulled into the Eppss' driveway he turned off his engine but the boy kept up his chatter until a rumpled woman came out the front door and raised one finger to her lips menacingly. The boy immediately became quiet and ran around the house.

Monique Epps turned and smiled at Ironhide and pushed her hair out of her eyes. She was just approaching middle age and a beautiful woman could still be seen under the toil and wear of a military housewife.

"Hi, you must be Ironhide, Bill said you would be coming by," she said.

"Yes, ah, is Mrs. Lennox here?" Ironhide asked. Mrs. Epps nodded and turned to follow her son around the house.

"Come around back." She led the way through a gate in the wooden fence surrounding the houses' back yards. Ironhide noted that the portion of the fence separating the two yard sections had been removed, making one large open space. It was a little cluttered right now. Boxes and containers were scattered across the grass. The woman waved at the mess and said,

"Sorry about all this. We're still unpacking from the move."

The Autobot wasn't quite sure what she was apologizing for, chaos was a natural part of moving a base of operations. She stopped at one box and sat down on it facing the bot.

"So. Bill asked you to come check up on Sarah, right?" Ironhide replied in the affirmative. The woman nodded and launched into an explanation involving the difficulty of raising a child, biological issues that cropped up at specific developmental stages, treatments for the issues, and the limits of human mothers. She was clearly very intelligent and very well versed in the subject matter. It made the bewildered Autobot wish he could understand a word she was saying. When she was finished she looked up at him expectantly. The woman obviously was expecting a reply. In situations like this Ironhide always relied on his old standby. He displayed his hardware. He popped open his passenger door and inquired,

"Will this do?"

Mrs. Epps got up and looked inside. The middle of the back seat immediately unfolded into a sturdy utilitarian looking child's car seat. Then the seat folded back into itself and the front passenger side seat made a similar transformation. Monique nodded with a pleased smile on her face.

"That is just perfect. Now I want you to remember something. Sarah Lennox is a strong stubborn woman. She likes to think she can handle everything herself. So we're saying that you're lonely with the rest of the Autobots and Bill gone and need to talk to someone who understands." She looked up at Ironhide expectantly.

"I can roll with that," he replied.

Just then a human girl came out of the house carrying a much smaller girl child.

"Annabelle," Ironhide exclaimed happily. Instead of greeting him with her usual smiles she let out a small, sleepy wail of protest and buried her face in the older girl's shoulder. The Autobot felt a twinge of worry go through him. Was she damaged somehow? The girl was informing her mother that, 'Aunt Sarah' was waking up already. The woman replied,

"Thank you Shareeka, stay here while I go get her." Mrs. Epps strode into the house. The girl grinned at Ironhide and shifted the child on her hip so Annabelle was closer to the truck. Ironhide said softly,

"Hello Annabelle Lennox. Do you remember me?"

The child only turned her head away and began to cry, but the girl holding her let out a laugh and started bouncing Annabelle up and down.

"Hey, nobody uses a baby's last name. I'm Shareeka, by the way. I'm oldest," the girl said with some obvious pride.

"Nice to meet you, but is the child damaged?" inquired the Autobot worriedly.

The girl let out another laugh and shook her long braided hair.

"Nah, she's just colicky. It happens to babies. Fred was like that for quite awhile."

Ironhide wasn't quite convinced; Annabelle looked like she was in some sort of discomfort. He felt his own recent injury give a sympathetic twinge. But the conversation was cut short by the arrival of the two grown humans. Ironhide was shocked by the change in Mrs. Lennox. Up to this point he had still harbored a suspicion that this was some sort of busy work, designed to keep his mind off of being left at base, but one look at the woman dispelled that idea. She had lost noticeable mass, there were darkened sections under her eyes, and it looked as though her coordination was suffering. If Ironhide had seen one of the human soldiers in his unit in that condition he would have ordered the human to the infirmary. He didn't exactly see what good he could do her by simply driving the woman and child around, but if Major Lenox thought it would help Ironhide would give it a try.

"Heya, Mrs. Lennox what's shaking?" he asked. Perhaps a cheerful demeanor would help. But the woman seemed entirely focused on her offspring. After she had retrieved the child from Shareeka, she turned and addressed the Autobot.

"Hello Ironhide, I hear you're missing my husband."

Ironhide let out a awkward conformation of this and wondered what to say next. There were protocols he knew, he just couldn't call them to mind. Shareeka seemed to sense his problem because she began to point at the baby in Sarah's arms and mouth something.

"Annabelle?" Ironhide asked hesitantly.

Mrs. Lennox blinked.

"What about Annabelle?" she inquired.

"Ah, how's she doing?" Ironhide got out.

The woman sighed and smiled tiredly.

"Oh, she's been a little colicky. The doctors can't find any reason why but she hasn't had a full night's sleep in awhile." That explained the adult human's condition, Ironhide mused, he knew from watching his own batch of soldiers that lack of sleep was hazardous. He remembered a bit of information he had gleaned from Tommygun.

"I have heard that riding in a vehicle with a powerful internal combustion engine is soothing to disturbed infants, and I have plenty of power," he revved his engine in demonstration, "If you like I could take you and your daughter for a ride."

Mrs. Lennox hesitated, yes this bot was her husband's close friend, but entrusting the safety of her precious child to a thirty foot robot from outer space? Mrs. Epps sensed weakness and jumped in like a lioness on zebra.

"What a wonderful idea! She'd love to. In you go now." Monique exclaimed.

Sarah tried to protest.

"But I don't have my wallet, or the diaper bag, or Teepy…"

Ironhide saw Mrs. Epps give a quick hand signal to Shareeka, and with military precision and speed their father would be proud of, she disappeared and the four Epps girls reappeared with all the necessary items. Ironhide folded down the child's seat on his passenger side and a worn bright yellow blanket was placed in it Annabelle was slipped into the seat and Ironhide carefully secured the four point harness around her. She was crying loudly now. Mrs. Lennox was half pushed half cajoled into the driver's seat by her friend and Ironhide clicked the door shut. She reached over and tried to comfort the child as the Autobot pulled out of the driveway with the Epps clan waving goodbye cheerfully. Ironhide reviewed the list of suitable destinations Tommygun had rattled off.

"So, would you like to go to the shore?" He asked.

"That's fine," she replied distractedly.

"Ah, that device exceeds all safety requirements for child restraint seats," he stated, just in case she was wondering. But the woman only nodded and smiled. Ironhide determined the most efficient route to one of the "nice quiet" places the mechanic had told him about, Sherwood Forest, and then immediately discarded it. The whole point of this was a nice long drive. He chose the quickest route out of the city and then avoided populated areas. Trees were good, Thompson had said, concrete bad.

They were hardly out of the neighborhood before Annabelle was asleep. Ironhide saw the look of relief on Sarah's face as she relaxed back into his seat, and felt a glow of pride. She tried to keep up a conversation for a few miles, but soon the mother too drifted off to blissful sleep. As they rolled along Ironhide turned on his radio softly to a station Major Lennox had mentioned in passing that his wife liked to relax to. Someone named Garth Brooks crooned about the value of two people falling in love as the moon rose over the Atlantic. After a couple of hours of cruising along the eastern seaboard, Ironhide thought smugly that there was nothing to 'looking out' for a buddy's family. He charted a new course out to a place with a good view of the ocean and parked, leaving his engine running.

"Uncle I'nhide!" A delighted squeal drew his attention to his small charge. Sarah Lennox was sound asleep, probably for the first time in weeks. Annabelle, however was wide awake and ready to play.


	4. Cheerios and Ponies

Uncle 3

A Transformers Movieverse Fanfic

Ironhide angled his rearview mirror to examine the little girl. A wide grin spread across her mouth. Her long curly hair was the color of gold. Twin sparks seemed to burn in her blue eyes, and lit the inside of his cab with a warm glow. The pink clothing she was wearing was rumpled but clean. A matching pink bow was falling out of her hair. She was grabbing at the clasps on the harness he had secured her in and to his amazement had already undone one of the clasps and was wriggling to get out of the seat. He attempted to secure the loose clasp but realized that without a human to hold her still he risked injuring her skin.

"Uncle I'nehide, lemme ou'," the child pleaded, the smile on her face replaced with a look of distress. The Autobot felt a twinge of worry at the look on her face. Was she in some sort of discomfort? He thought about waking Sarah Lennox, but given her current physical state, she really needed the sleep. So the warrior carefully lowered the armrests between the little girl and her mother and leaned the seats so Annabelle could access any part of his cab except the driver's seat where Sarah was sleeping.

"Here you go little one," he said as softly as he could.

She giggled and scrambled down. Making straight for the diaper bag, she pulled out a clear zip lock baggie of cheerios. After a few moments of fruitless struggling she let out an annoyed squeal and began chewing on the bag.

"Ah don't think you should be doing that little one," Ironhide said worriedly. He reached out with a grappling cable and pulled the bag out of her hands. She looked up at the dangling bag of cereal and water began to fill her eyes. Her pink lips pressed together and she began emitting a series of soft whimpers. Tommygun had warned him about this behavior, Ironhide belatedly remembered, the real noise would come next if he didn't do something fast. Sarah's heart rate began to increase. Quickly he opened the bag and with a smaller grapple pulled out one of the tan circles.

"Do you want one of these things?" he asked.

Annabelle smiled widely revealing pearly white baby teeth, but shook her head and held out two chubby fingers.

"You want two?" the Autobot asked.

She clapped her hands and giggled. Ironhide reached back into the bag and pulled out a second piece of cereal. He extended the grappling cables until they were within easy reach of the child, but the human only leaned forward, closing her eyes and opening her little mouth wide. Ironhide waited patiently for her to reach for the food. Annabelle finally pointed into her mouth with an eager little noise. The mech finally understood and carefully placed them on her tongue. Annabelle smiled and began chewing.

"Moe pease," she said, holding up one finger.

Ironhide selected another and set it in the child's mouth. This went on for some time, with the warrior ever so gently selecting one, two, or three cheerios as the girl in pink demanded. For the Autobot it was fascinating to watch the way she savored each bite. Most of the humans he had seen consumed their food as if it was some kind of chore, often complaining about it the entire time. Annabelle took each bit of the grain as if it delighted her and would stop to smile and nod in application, sometimes murmuring that it was goo', or yummy.

"So what should I call you?" Ironhide asked curiously as he watched her eat. "Shareeka told me I shouldn't use your full name, but what is the best way to address you?"

The little girl sat back chewing thoughtfully.

"Aska googiley," she finally said. "Mamma says find everything on googiley."

Ironhide saw the wisdom of this and hit the internet again.

"Hmmm, it seems like the best thing to do is shorten your first name. Lots of choices too; Belle, Bel, Bella, Ann, Annie. Then there's the meaning; Beauty, Joy, lots to choose from."

"Two pease," Annabelle said, far more interested in the food.

"I guess Annie is good. That's what Fred called you," Ironhide finally decided, gently placing two more cheerios on her pink tongue.

All too soon the bag was empty, save for a few grams of dry powder. Annabelle took ths bag from an unresisting Ironhide and upended it.

"Alwe gons!" she declared and threw it in a corner. "Ponies now!"

"Ponies?" Ironhide asked.

"In'a bag!" Annabelle pointed at the diaper bag.

The Autobot did a quick internet search for 'ponies' and began sifting through the container. Near the bottom he found several small wooded statutes carved in the shape of small equines and died bright colors. These seemed to fit the search results best so he carefully began setting them down in front of the girl child. She let out a happy coo and grabbed a blue one and a red one.

"Dis is Star Dazze and dis is Wind Chazzie," she explained. "Dey gotta save da baby horsey from da big bad monster!" She placed the smallest of the figures on his crew seat.

"You be the big bad monster!"

Ironhide was somewhat at a loss on how he was supposed to be a monster. He thought of Major Lennox applying that term to Megatron. Thought of the spark wrenching things the Decepticon leader had done threaded through his CPU. None of them seemed particularly appropriate for such a fragile young creature as Annie. He thought back further, to the stories he had told the hatchlings of his own tribe. He carefully extended a cable and wrapped it around the indicated figure.

"I'm a deep dweller, come to the surface to snatch hatchling ponies from their protectors," he growled quietly.

Annie nodded and began an animated conversation describing the harrowing adventured the two hero ponies were having on their way to rescue the third. Ironhide watched the campaign play out in amusement.

Suddenly Annie looked up and a frown flitted across her face.

"Uh oh!" she said softly.

"What's wrong little one?" Ironhide asked.

"Gotta wee wee," she whispered.

"Oh," Ironhide quickly reviewed everything Tommygun had told him, and came up short. "What exactly is wee wee?" the Autobot asked. Having only the sound to work from an internet search had provided far too many options.

"Wee wee!" Annebelle insisted beginning to bounce up and down, there was a hint of desperation in her voice.

"She needs to use the restroom," a sleepy voice stated.

"Ah, Mrs. Lennox. Hope I didn't wake you up," Ironhide said gruffly, relief flooding his CPU.

"No, I woke up a little bit ago," she responded, holding her arms out to Annabelle who climbed eagerly in.

"Is there a public restroom nearby?" she asked looking out into the predawn light.

"There's one about ten yards south," Ironhide informed her, "Let me get you a little closer." The Topkick eased up next to the lighted restroom and waited patiently while the two human females went in. When they came out he found himself carefully studying the way Annie moved. Her footsteps were rapid, and her balance was unsure. She clung to the support offered by her mother's hand as she wobbled along. Deep coded programs, nearly forgotten in the long war rose to the surface.

"Little one," he whispered softly, "my lil' Annie."

The humans climbed back into the cab and Sarah suggested they be getting home. She carefully secured Annie in the car seat and settled into the driver's side. Both were soon fast asleep once more.

When they got home Monique came out of the Epps's home to help her friend unload. The women clucked over the cheerio mess all over his floorboard but the Autobot refused their offer to vacuum him out.

"Ha! Compared to what your mates have spilled in me this is nothing," he insisted to the chuckles of the women.

"Unca' I'nhide stay for lunch?" Annie asked sleepily.

"No I've gotta get back to base Lil' Annie," he said regretfully.

"But you commen back soon?"

"You bet, little one," The Autobot promised, "real soon."

With a rolling roar a C-130 Hercules came into land. A heard of tired, dirty, and frustrated soldiers spilled out onto the tarmac and loaded up into waiting transports. Looking slightly out of place a Peterbilt 381 semi rolled down the ramp pulling a trailer followed by a sleek silver Corvette. In the cab of the semi Major Lennox was going over the seemingly endless paperwork with Epps. Optimus Prime would occasionally chime in with some useful bit of information. The drive back to the D.C. base usually went fast.

Back in the hanger the Autobot leader popped his doors open and his human friend scrambled out clutching an armful of paperwork each.

"Ugh, think we got it all this time Optimus," Epps said staring back into the cab. "Sorry in advance if we didn't."

The Autobot stood and transformed. Both men stepped back and tried not to stare. Even after all the months they'd worked together, it was still awe inspiring to watch the massive warrior assume his true form.

"No matter," his deep voice assured the humans, "A little extra data never hurt an old archivist like me."

Sideswipe too pulled up beside them as they came out of their offices paper free. The silver Autobot had glided gracefully toward the shower bay to wash the accumulated dust of the month long deployment off his gleaming silver paintjob. Now he sat there gleaming under the harsh base lights.

"Major Lennox, Sergeant Epps, it appears Ironhide isn't here but is currently at your residence awaiting your return with your mates and offspring," Sideswipe informed them. "Care for a ride home? I need to talk to the old hard aft."

The weary soldiers nodded and climbed into the Corvette. When they pulled onto the street Sideswipe immediately headed around back to where he was picking up the soldiers signal. The humans headed for their respective front doors.

Suddenly the sleek Autobot came tearing back around the corner.

"Lennox! You have got to come see this!"

The human in question blinked in surprise. He could safely say that he had never before heard an Autobot squealing in glee.

"Sarge too! This is just so, so," the warrior broke off to giggle.

Epps was wondering if he should report this to Ratchet as a possible mental breakdown, possibly due to being deployed for a month with no real action.

They followed the silver bot to the other side of the house and peeked over the fence as he instructed. Both men stopped dead, grins of delight and understanding exploding across their faces.

Ironhide was parked in the back yard with a pink princess hat perched on one smoke stack and a purple one on the other. A dainty tea cup and saucer was held in front of his grille by a slender cable. Arranged around him were six children. The four Epps girls and Annabelle wore matching pink sundresses and hats and held tea cups identical to Ironhide's. Fred was sporting a suit that had probably been crisp when his mother had forced him into it six hours ago in preparation for his father's return. He was currently waving a sword around gleefully telling the assembled maidens how he had slain the dragon with the aid of his trusty mount Ironhide.

The fathers staggered back biting their lips and trying not to burst out into laughter at the sight of the fiercest of the Autobot warriors attending a tea party. They waved the still giggling sideswipe away from the fence and headed back towards their respective houses.

"Say Sides," Epps finally gasped out, "Stay low for a few minutes will you?"

The silver bot was a bit confused but agreed. Both men returned to their homes. William Lennox opened the door to his house and walked in. Standing there in blue jeans and a lacy white tanktop, afternoon sun streaming through her golden hair, was the most beautiful woman in the world. Without a word they were in each others' arms. He just held her for a moment breathing in the scent of his woman. Finally he pushed Sarah away and looked her up and down.

"You look good," he said with relief.

"You always say that when you get home," she laughed.

"I guess I do," Lennox admitted. But she did look better. She had regained the weight she had lost and the skin on her face was smooth and healthy. He made a mental note to thank Ironhide properly later.

"So the babysitter has given us our five minutes," she said softly, "let's go see the other lady in your life."

With timing born of long practice both sets of parents stepped out into the back yard at the same time. With squeals of delight the tea party was thrown into chaos as the children rushed into their fathers' arms'. Sideswipe took this as his cue and rolled up to Ironhide.

"Soooooo," he purred as they watched the humans embracing happily. "This is what you do in your downtime."

"Yep," Ironhide said happily.

"I got pictures of you here you know," Sideswipe taunted, preparing himself for a fast escape and long chase over the compromising pictures. But to his shock the old warrior only eagerly demanded a download of the copies. While the bemused would be prankster obliged his commanding officer he watched the human children with more interest. It that little organic could so thoroughly wrap the tough old soldier so thoroughly around her servos they might be worth a little study.


	5. Curious Infestation

Bunny

A Transformers Movieverse FanFiction

A gleaming black GMC Topkick rolled slowly through a crowded fairground parking. The grass in the field was brown and trampled under its tires as it rolled to a stop under the direction of the lot attendant. The driver glanced out over the sea of parked cars and a frown creased his broad forehead. His nose was set at a slight angle, suggesting it had broken once and not been properly reset and an old scar crossed one of his eyes. He let out a sigh and ran his thumb over the rough stubble of his powerful jaw line as gleaming blue eyes searched the field for any threat to his two precious charges.

They should have arrived earlier he mused, but Sarah had been sluggish that morning in her preparations. He glanced over at the blond woman and a smile of pride tugged at the corner of his mouth. Mrs. Lennox was leaning against the passenger door sound asleep despite the condition of the road to the fair parking, stopping to pat the lot attendant, and the noise of the crowd outside. She had been up a good portion of the previous night trying to calm her over excited daughter. Once little Annabelle had gone to sleep however he had heard the woman pacing back and forth for several more hours.

The soldier sympathized. Will Lennox was currently on another continent hunting Decepticons. Unable to follow his partner into battle due to an injury, the best he could do was offer whatever assistance he could to the man's wife and child. A low growl of frustration emanated from the engine of the pickup as the drivers hands tightened around the wheel. He sensed the woman's heart rate increase at the sign of aggression and immediately stilled the noise.

"Hey Annie," he whispered to the little girl in the back seat.

Two blue eyes looked up eagerly from the toy equines she was playing with, not at the figure of the broad shouldered man but instead the dashboard.

"Are we here Uncle Hide?" she whispered so as not to wake up Mommy.

The man smiled at her and a black cable with a grapple on the end rose up from underneath the seat to playfully tussle her golden hair.

"Of course we are 'here' small one. Where we are is always here."

Annabelle tilted her head to one side ant thought about what he had said. Uncle Hide didn't always make sense. Daddy said it was because he came from a different culture whatever that was. She shrugged her little shoulders in the harness and tried another way.

"Are we at the fair?"

"Yes."

"Let's go!" she whispered happily, beginning to struggle out of her car seat. "Leave Mommy to sleep."

Ironhide carefully studied her mother. He was under standing orders from Will to make sure she got as much sleep as possible and he did have permission to escort the sparkling in public places with his holoform. The driver nodded and smiled at the little girl. The Autobot rerouted most of his power and attention to the projection. It had disconcerted him at first, feeling so small and helpless. But it made caring for the human sparkling much easier in public places. He opened his door and watched as the little fem finished sliding out of the supposedly inescapable four point harness. He would have to upgrade that again, the warrior mused ruefully.

The little bundle of energy wrapped in a pink tee, blue jeans, and cowgirl boots came tumbling out of the crew cab dragging her blue backpack and leapt into the powerful arms of the projection. He held her close for a moment, letting his chin rest on her head. She giggled softly at the slight electrostatic buzz that ran over her body on contact, but having been repeatedly and firmly admonished by her parents to not talk about any of the things that made Uncle Hide special in public she wriggled down without comment and grabbed his hand; pulling eagerly towards the booth.

"Come on Uncle Hide," she pleaded. "I wanna see the baby bunnies!"

Ironhide grinned down at her and followed along. The worn carrying container on her back held enough food and water for when the girl got hungry as well as a tracking device that would enable the Autobot to find her in case they were separated. Not that he intended to let the small child out of his sight, but those small legs had the capability to accelerate far faster than his own form could. He'd learned that the hard way and didn't want a repeat performance.

"Over there! Over there!" she squealed eagerly, dragging him towards a series of low barns with a stylized rabbit on it.

The Autobot gave a longsuffering sigh, an expression he'd been practicing a lot since his injury, and gamely let himself be led into the building. He would never understand the humans' fascination with the various rodents that infested this planet; although the purpose of the creatures in this particular structure was less confusing than most. The walls were lined with simple explanations of the uses and history of each creature inexpertly portrayed by young hands. Apparently the humans used them for a source of food and cold weather armor. The warrior idly examined the information while following Annabelle from cage to cage.

They finally came to the end of the building where several of the participants had their animals out of the cages for public display. The girl walked up to one of the smaller and fluffier of the creatures and was staring at it with wide expectant eyes.

"Would you like to hold it sweetheart?" the elderly female tending the bunny under Annie's scrutiny asked.

"Oh! Yes please," the child enthused.

"What a polite little girl! Just ask your daddy and we'll get you set up."

Annabelle's face fell and a crestfallen look appeared on her face.

"But I can't ask Daddy," she protested.

"Why not?" the other female queried, "he's right there," she continued with a glance up at Ironhide's holoform.

The Autobot opened his mouth to explain but his charge beat him to the punch with a bubbling laugh.

"That's not Daddy!" she exclaimed. "That's Uncle Hide."

"Oh, well ask your uncle then," the woman smiled in understanding.

"Uncle Hide! Can I hold the bunny please?" Annie threw her arms around the projection and smiled up at her guardian sweetly.

Ironhide grinned down at her. He still had no idea why she wanted to hold the vermin, but there was no way he could refuse her. Mrs. Lennox said that there must be a glitch in his programming where the word 'no' should be. Besides in this case he saw no potential for harm in the action. Sure the little pest had sharp teeth but they were small and the sign above the table assured that these rabbits weren't aggressive. A short nod and Annie was scrambling up into the chair where the older woman directed her and the ball of fluff was in her hands.

"Your niece resembles you a great deal."

Ironhide took his eyes off the child for a moment and blinked at the older woman in surprise.

"What?" he asked incredulously, the sheer impossibility of the statement startling him.

"She has your eyes," the woman said with a smile. "I guess that's something you share with your brother."

The warrior just blinked at her blankly until she was drawn away by another child. Ironhide shrugged and filed the interaction away with all the other inexplicable things humans did. Something else had caught his attention. A faint alarm was tingling in his processor regarding Annie. She was still sitting crooning over the animal but she had inexplicably attracted the attention of every adult in the vicinity. Some were even surreptitiously taking pictures of the child. He moved to stand over her shoulder and tried to determine the intent of their actions. But the attention only seemed to increase.

Ironhide shifted nervously. The mech had been reprimanded more than once for overreacting to perceived threats to Annabelle. He had sent more than one unsuspecting human to the medic and faced stern reprimands from Prime. None of the people were moving to approach the oblivious child but he did not like the fact that they were recording the incident. Finally the Autobot could stand the scrutiny no longer and activated the comm. unit in his cab.

"Sarah," a deep voice startled the woman out of a very pleasant dream.

She came alert at once and glanced around the spacious cab. Both Annie and Ironhide's holoform were gone; meaning the mech had left her to nap, and judging by the tone of his voice he had run into a problem. Half an hour, the woman noted glancing at the display on the dash with a grin, not bad.

"What's up Ironhide," Sarah asked with a yawn and a stretch.

"The crowd is behaving oddly toward Annabelle," he said tersely.

"How so exactly?" the woman inquired with a frown.

Concisely the warrior described the increased if subtle attention the child was receiving and the many photographs being taken.

"Show me," Mrs. Lennox suddenly interrupted the description.

Ironhide paused and an image of the people in the barn appeared on the dash display.

"No," Sarah corrected him, "I mean show me Annabelle."

The image flickered out and single figure reappeared. Ironhide observed a warm smile blossom over the mother's face at the sight. The golden haired little girl sat in a well loved wooden rocking chair with a white ball of bunny fluff contrasting with her pink shirt and blue jeans. She was tenderly and carefully stroking the bunny while keeping up a steady stream of happy chatter at it.

"Ironhide?"

"Sarah."

"Please tell me you're recording this."

"I must apologize Sarah, I am not," the mech replied contritely.

"Then start now," the mother instructed, "stills and video as well. File it to be compressed and sent to Will, but hold onto it for a bit. I'm going to want to add a note to the package."

Ironhide readily agreed. He would transmit the file to Optimus and Annie's father would be able the view the hologram in far greater detail than any earth tech could supply him. Granted, personal messages were not exactly what the Autobot's private comm. system was supposed to be for, but for Lennox he would make several exceptions. Sarah spoke again.

"Stay there. I've got to see this in person. Where are you?"

A diagram appeared beside the image detailing the fairgrounds and the holoform's position in the rabbit barn. The woman studied it for a minute and nodded.

"Oh and Hide? Don't worry about a thing. The crowd's behavior is perfectly normal," she assured him with a grin.


	6. Don't Try This at Home

Don't Try This at Home

A Transformers Movieverse Fanfiction

They say a butterfly flapping its wings on one side of the globe can cause a hurricane on the other. While one might contribute the ruckus currently occupying the Leader of the Autobots to the chaos theory, it would be unjust to blame an innocent tropical insect. This bit of chaos had been caused by a sound only slightly louder; not the flap of a wing but the sigh of a child.

O

O

1000 hours

Military Housing Unit NV 578

Current Residents Epps

With a sad little sigh a lanky boy sagged down onto a beanbag in a large garage. He rubbed his close cropped black hair and looked over at a little girl in a princess outfit playing with a doll house. She was on her knees, several large sheets of cardboard protecting her from the concrete, wielding what looked suspiciously like G.I. Joe action figures around a tea party. For a moment the brown little face of the watcher brightened, but soon he fell back against the leather bag.

"I'm bored," Fred Epps declared to the world in general.

"Do you want to come play tea party with me?" Annabelle Lennox asked polity pushing her tiara back a little further on her blond hair. She knew it was the right thing to do. Mommy always said to share her toys. But Freddy always tried to make the partiers fight, and that was no fun.

"Noooooo, tea parties are boring," the boy pouted.

Annie frowned at him. He didn't used to think that. Not when Uncle Hide would come over and play. But Uncles Sides and Sunny never let her put the special hats on them, never held the tea cups. She shot a slightly resentful look at the two empty spaces on the garage floor. They were often away doing mysterious things. Even if they did have funny stories when they came back it wasn't fair.

Just as she was thinking that there was a squeal of tires from the driveway and two gleaming Lamborghinis slid into the garage. Neither of the children was yet old enough to question how a car could squeal around a corner at ten miles an hour, but somehow Sunstreaker managed it. Fred leapt up with a grin and scampered over to stand in front of the other Lambo.

"Hey! It's two of our favorite sparklings!" Sideswipe called out.

"What's shaking kiddos?" Sunstreaker asked.

"I was bored but now you guys are here!" the boy said eagerly climbing into Sideswipe. "Do I get my pendant back now?"

"I wasn't board. I was playing tea party!" Annabelle exclaimed happily. She could never stay upset at the twins. She jumped into Sunstreaker's open door and sat down primly on his driver's seat.

"So what were you guys doing?" Fred asked eagerly.

"I'm sorry that's classified," Sides purred happily as he settled down on his shocks.

"Sunny, Sides," a voice called out and a dark head popped out of the man door. "There you are."

Monique Epps smiled down on the sports cars as she stepped into the garage.

"I need to walk these cupcakes over to Shareeka's party," the woman began.

"And you want us to watch the kids? Sure thing," Sides called out enthusiastically.

"We won't let them out of our sight!" Sunny agreed.

"Okay you remember the rules?"

"Always!" Sideswipe said sincerely.

"Good, I'll be back in about half an hour."

"So what do you kids want to do?" asked Sideswipe.

"Let's go race on the test range!" Fred said, in the other twin Annabelle eagerly agreed.

"No, I'm pretty sure that's on the 'don't do' list," Sunstreaker replied sadly.

"Let's watch Mythbreakers then!" the boy compromised, to a chorus of agreement.

The seats in the car reclined slightly and a 3-D projection appeared on the wind shield. Just as the title screen was rolling there was a cry from Annie.

"Fred, come over here to watch."

"No, you come over to Sides! He has better seats."

"No he doesn't! They're twins silly!" she protested.

"Hey, hey, none of that now!" Sideswipe spoke up. They had been through this argument several times before and he wanted to avoid it if at all possible. "It is my turn to have you kids. Right Sunny?"

The yellow mech grumbled but reluctantly agreed and opened his door to let the little girl scramble out. She scampered up into Sideswipe, bare toes curling in delight on the soft interior carpet. The girl sat primly in the passenger seat as the Autobot adjusted the height and recline angle for her maximum comfort. He knew from experience that both children would soon be snuggled up in the same seat so he adjusted it for the boy as well.

"Okay! Play!" Annabelle said happily.

The Lamborghini resumed playing the semi-scientific show for the two. He was careful to edit out the words their mothers had objected to. Though he wasn't sure why. Both of their fathers used those exact terms every day. However, when Sides had pointed this out to the women they had only replied that what might be appropriate on the battle field wasn't always a good idea at home. The Autobot still didn't get it, but he had learned long ago not to argue with the females of this species.

The two sparkling humans watched happily for awhile, laughing and chatting with their guardians over the antics on screen. As the Autobots expected, at the first sign of a disturbing scene the older child was sitting next to the younger so 'she wouldn't feel afraid'. Annie squealed with disgust when rats began crawling across soda cans. But the eyes of both children lit up and the room got very quiet as the next test was proposed. They held hands and watched eagerly as the show progressed, finally cheering at the outcome.

"We could do that one here!" Fred said exultantly. "We have a Lamborghini. We have two!"

"Yeah, but the Mythbreakers said to not try it at home," Annabelle protested.

"Unless you have two experts to help," the boy pointed out. "Sunny and Sides are the two best experts at being fast cars on the planet."

"Uhun! They're the best in the universe!" the girl corrected him. "But that might hurt them. Look what happened to that poor car?"

"Aw, a little rough landing like that wouldn't even ding Sides. He has force fields. Right Sides?"

From the moment the conversation had started the twins had been discussing the possibilities over the comm. The maneuver described in the show did not appear to be difficult. In fact it could prove useful in battle if mastered. A quick search of the local area via Google showed a near perfect site for the experiment within easy distance. It was a little long at five hundred feet of water but they were sure they could make it.

"I don't know Fred. It does look like it might ruin our paint jobs," the Autobot said uneasily, replaying the scene of the car's rough landing.

"Hey! We'll land way better than that," scoffed his brother, "and the way the road is set up we'll be landing on pavement not scrub."

"Oh, do you think we can do it?" the girl asked eagerly.

One look at the happy gleam in her eyes and the last doubts were washed out of Sideswipe's mind.

"Let's roll!" he declared.

Fred had the presence of mind to scrawl a quick note for his mother before jumping into Sideswipe.

O

O

"Now! Let's see if we can skip a Lamborghini across a pond," Fred declared as they stood at the edge of a small lake.

A powerful river had once flowed peacefully alongside a two lane highway, until one sudden winter's storm had changed the course of the waterway. Now five hundred feet of shallow lake water separated one stretch of asphalt from the other. It only took removing a few logs and rocks at either end that some county worker had carelessly left there to make the scene perfect.

For safety's sake the twins insisted the two human sparklings sit the first round out. Fred and Annie protested a bit and the Lamborghinis felt quite proud of themselves for being mature enough to say no. The children walked up to the shore of the lake and skipped the more conventional flat stones while they waited for the show. Not that the twins ever let them wait long.

In perfect tandem the red and yellow sports cars came shooting around the corner. They accelerated across the straight stretch leading up to the lake with a musical roar. Shooting past the humans the Cybertronians flew out over the water. The first impact sent waves of water spaying out in every direction, by the second and third impacts they had broken their perfect synchronization. But both Autobots made it all the way across the lake, skipping just like the stones flung by the children. Fred and Annie cheered wildly. Barely slowing down the two cars shot down the opposite road just far enough to gain enough speed and came flying back over.

Back on the children's side of the lake Sunny and Sides popped their doors open and let the kids climb in. Each Autobot took great care in providing for the kids safety. They strapped them in with multiple seatbelts, carefully molded the seats to support their fragile spinal structure, and then elevated the seats for the best view.

"Are you ready?" queried Sunstreaker revving his engine.

"Yes!" Shouted Fred.

"Are you set?" purred Sideswipe wriggling his steering wheel.

"Yes!" squealed Annabelle.

"Then let's go!" roared out the twins together.

The humans screamed with delight as the powerful Cybertronian engines accelerated. For safety's sake the twins had decided to take the jumps one at a time. Sunny took the lead as Fred always insisted on letting Annie go first. She let out a loud shriek as the Autobot hit the water and flew into the air. Each bounce drew another audio receptor piercing noise.

"Again! Again," she cried when Sunny slid to a stop on the other side. The water was forcing itself uncomfortably up into his undercarriage. There were small fish and invertebrates of all sorts crawling all over the vain mech. But as long as his princess was smiling the Autobot would keep doing as she asked.

O

O

Two very dirty Lamborghinis rolled up to the base housing. The children were chatting away over the comm. system and all four were laughing. Suddenly the two Autobots fell silent. Fred glanced up to see what had silenced to gregarious Sideswipe. The boy felt something hard and heavy settle in his stomach. Standing in the garage with twin expressions of fury on their faces were his and Annie's moms.

"Uhoh…" he heard the girl whisper over the radio.

The Cybertronians knew better than to run. Slowly they came to a stop in front of the females and opened their doors. Fred climbed out first and stood before the women nervously. Both mothers gave their respective children careful examinations. Once they had determined the children were safe and whole each was handed over to an older Epps girl for a bath. Once the children were gone Monique and Sarah turned on the Cybertronians.

Both Sunny and Sides had transformed and were sitting cross-legged in the garage, heads hanging. They weren't exactly sure what they'd done. But they had clearly worried the mothers, and that was forbidden. As they expected the tongue lashing was long and involved; the women tag teaming so the string of accusations and reprimands was nearly constant. Not for the first time Sideswipe found himself wondering how such a small creature could be so intimidating. Protests that the children had been perfectly safe only seemed to infuriate the women more. So the twins suffered in silence. Finally Sarah Lennox made the mistake of letting Sunny answer one of her questions.

"Why did you think this was a good idea?" she demanded.

"I just wanted to make Annie smile," the miserable Autobot said softly looking at the floor.

The garage suddenly grew deathly quiet. The brothers looked at each other nervously then up at the women. Sarah and Monique were sharing stricken looks. Annabelle had been devastated when Ironhide had been killed. The first time she had smiled after his death had been when she met Uncle Sideswipe's brother. Her mother drew in a long breath.

"Just go tell Optimus exactly what you did and let him deal with you," she finally muttered.

The Lambos transformed and tore out of the garage at full speed.

Monique let out a small laugh and shook her head.

"Dang girl, how do you argue with something like that?"

"Oh, I'm sure they were fairly safe," Sarah snorted, "but those two idiots have got to learn to ask permission before they go off like that."

"Which two?" her friend asked with a sparkle in her eyes.

The women parted ways laughing to go dispense justice to their respective offspring.


End file.
